Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Obama with Blood on His Hands

By Nicolas J S Davies
December 2, 2009

President Barack Obama carefully avoided describing his decision to dispatch 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan as an "escalation," but that is what he announced.

Read on.
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6 comments:

democratic core said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wed Dec 02, 01:07:00 PM 2009
democratic core said...

This is a pile of offensive clap-trap. During the Afghan civil wars in the decade before 9/11, Afghan civilian casualties are estimated to have been 400,000. During the Soviet invasion in the preceding decade, Afghan civilian casualties are estimated at between 1.5 to 2 million. Interesting that the survey reported here states that 77% of Russians think that it is wrong to kill civilians (as do I). Where is the call for war crimes prosecutions of Soviet military leaders responsible for these massive Afghan civilian casualties? Last year, Afghan civilian casualties were about 2,000 which is the highest level since the US invasion in 2001. The Bush/Cheney war in Iraq is not the same as the war in Afghanistan, which Bush and Cheney bungled, and which Obama now wants to end. The title "Obama With Blood on His Hands" is utterly disgusting.

Wed Dec 02, 01:17:00 PM 2009
ChMoore said...

A couple thoughts.

If it is actually provable that Americans are less sensitive to civilian killing, the roots might be in our history as an immigrant nation. It's easier to think less of others you don't know, if you've had a few centuries of practice.

Once at that point, it's not too hard to convince people to commit attrocities that conflict with their own moral system, as long as it's approved by the prevailing authority.

Researcher Stanley Milgram found that out - that a majority of regular folks would be willing to administer lethal electric shocks, if someone failed to memorize pairs of words, as long as the person in charge says it's OK.

Thu Dec 03, 10:36:00 AM 2009
Anonymous said...

I think, the roots of Americans' high approval on killing civilians are related to the fact that US has largest prison population in the world, and that the general climate in US society is highly hostile and adversarial. Practically every encounter in US society carries possibility of an attack of some sort. Practically every letter in the mail is either some threat from some corporation, or misleading advertising attempting to rob the addressee. Practically every word in mass media is a lie. If you don't read fine print, you will be robbed. And so forth. As a result, many Americans live in state of constant stress and constant battle with surroundings, and those "civilians" for them are in fact enemies they would not hesitate to kill, given the opportunity.

Sat Dec 05, 12:13:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

One of the best articles I've read lately. As usual, those who want to defend one side of the ideological American conundrum will say that they are right while the other isn't. What is true is that Americans are used to disregarding other people's lives, and this has been a continuum since their inception. They killed Indians wholesale, and when they couldn't massacre them, they just stole their lands shamelessly. Treachery seems to also be another of America's traits. How then can one understand the way the pilgrims and the whole country paid back the Indians who had saved them from starvation? That treachery and ingratitude is utterly disgusting.

Sat Dec 05, 04:29:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

god will judge all who proclaim to serve him yet kill in his name. Pray all you want Obama it means nothing with blood on your hands..
they are blasheming. only god can take life only him. your 70-80 years are numberers then judgemnet.

Tue May 03, 03:22:00 AM 2011

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